EDITOR’S NOTE: Given that the Legacy Magazine’s theme this month is about food, men, meals and eating, we figured whom better to ask some pointed questions but those MDI men who took it upon themselves to establish restaurants. And we would ask the same five questions of each. Let’s see what transpired.
5 Questions for 3 Restaurateurs
- Why did you start a restaurant? The purpose?
- Has it been what you thought it would be? How? How Not?
- How does it serve you to be able to provide meals for others?
- What has been the favorite item requested by your customers?
- A real thinker – what is your “philosophy of food?” or … what role does food have in other people’s lives?
Michael Noble – Owner of NOTaBle and The Nash Restaurant & Off Cut Bar
Background: NOtaBLE – The Restaurant – Opened early August 2010, employing over 50 full-time and part-time staff. The Nash Restaurant & Off Cut Bar – Opened in November 2014, also employs more than 50 staff.
- Why did you start a restaurant? The purpose?
I got into the cooking business at an early age, right out of high school as I’d taken a Foods & Nutrition course in school that I enjoyed a lot.
Early in my career, when I was an apprentice at the age of 20 I saw my hotel chef driving his Porsche through Vancouver, and in that moment I created a dream to one day be a successful Chef. I worked in all types of hospitality businesses through the first 25 years of my career, and in many countries. Through my work with the MDI men of Head Smashed In, and in doing my Legacy Discovery weekend I identified my purpose to be “I give Love, through my guidance mentoring and leadership.” There was a day that I knew I was complete with working for other people and it was time to open my own restaurant and follow my purpose to its fullest extent.
- Has it been what you thought it would be? How? How Not?
It has been everything that I thought it would be, and then some. I knew that going through the stressful time of financing, building and opening my own restaurant would be extremely challenging, and yet I also could picture faces without names which meant to me that I would be leading a large team of employees and connecting with a large amount of new guests who would become regulars. Many of which would become friends over the now 14 years I’ve spent operating my two restaurants.
What I didn’t know was that at some point all three of my adult children would at one time or another work with me in the businesses – this has been extremely rewarding for me. In fact, my youngest daughter Laura is my longest standing employee at 15 years. She is the Controller for both of my restaurant businesses as she takes care of many other important facets of the operation.
- How does it serve you to be able to provide meals for others?
I love to cook, first and foremost. It is challenging and satisfying at the same time. It is a craft that I’ve done for over 45 years now. I am super comfortable in the kitchens and have a high degree of skill and knowledge that I now pass on to my young kitchen team, chefs and cooks.
There is a high degree of satisfaction when I’m working on one of my restaurant kitchens and I can literally hear a happy buzz in the room, not to mention people waving and nodding to me as they leave at the end of their experiences.
- What has been the favorite item requested by your customers?
In 1996 I had a desire to come up with a unique NY style baked cheesecake which had a different taste than standard cream cheese. That night, at 2 a.m. I was awakened with the answer which had somehow emerged in my sleep: I added Stilton cheese (English blue cheese) to the recipe in a small amount, and served it with a rhubarb compote. It is sweet and savoury with a bruleed sugar topping, and it became a golden dish in the 1997 GQ Magazine’s year-end issue. I have had it on my dessert menu ever since, and it has wowed many guests over all of those years.
- A real thinker – what is your “philosophy of food?” or … what role does food have in other people’s lives?
Food connects people, so simply. That is why I love to run my restaurants. In fact, I never added TV’s to my restaurant designs because I want people to be entertained by my open kitchens which feature wood burning rotisseries and charcoal grills along with the action happening in a busy kitchen.
Everyone must eat, and the simple act of sharing/enjoying food with each other has a way of connecting them and perhaps even inspiring them to open themselves to each other in a heart-open way. No doubt, if my restaurants do their job well, our guests feel much better leaving the restaurant than when they maybe arrived tired and hungry.
Ian Kennard – Owner of Willie’s Café
- Why did you start a restaurant? The purpose?
I started in the hospitality industry in my early teens at a big hotel in Toronto. By the end of high school, I was addicted to the business and knew that at some point in the future I wanted my own restaurant. I loved the energy, the pressure, the craziness, the people, both coworkers and customers, the teamwork, the independence, the flexibility and the cash.
The purpose: I wanted to own my own business and be of service. Here I am 29 years later… Over the years the purpose has changed a bit. I still love being an entrepreneur, I still love creating and serving food, but I also do my best to make a difference in the community. We now work closely with a couple of charitable organizations reducing waste by sending them leftovers a couple of times a week. In the early years we hired a lot of students. They had to maintain their grades to keep the job. For years now we have been working with local social services agencies to provide employment and training opportunities to people with disabilities.
- Has it been what you thought it would be? How? How Not?
Yes it has: it is fun, stressful, rewarding, challenging, joyous, heartbreaking, profitable, draining. I think for the most part it has been what I imagined. I had a business partner for the first seven years, it took us three years to build the café to the point where we were making money. It was a Friday night, the dining room was full, conversation was flowing, guests were enjoying the food, the candles on the table, the quiet music in the background. We had just sent out the last main course and we took a minute to look out over the dining room. We looked at each other, felt the energy and smiled, realizing that we had made it. We had something that was working; we had a future.
I think the last five years were not what I expected. They have been the most challenging of my entire hospitality career. I don’t think I need to explain, other to say we are still here and getting ready for the next great thing.
- How does it serve you to be able to provide meals for others?
Serving food brings me joy. I love going to work every day, I love the people I work with, I love the feedback from our guests and clients. So, yes part of it serves my ego. But I am also grateful that we get to create a moment of joy in the days, good and bad, of our customers who join us for a coffee, lunch or catered event. We have served generations of families in our community, funerals, graduations, weddings, birthdays … that is rewarding.
- What has been the favorite item requested by your customers?
Cranberry Turkey Wrap is our most popular item, and it has been on the menu for 25 years. We refer to it as Thanksgiving / Christmas dinner in a wrap. Fresh turkey breast, sage mayonnaise, lettuce, cranberry sauce, sauteed yellow zucchini and Monterey jack cheese in a whole wheat wrap. Yummy!
- A real thinker – what is your “philosophy of food?” or … what role does food have in other people’s lives?
Mmm… Food should be real. Food is community. The most important ingredient is love.
David Dressler – Tender Greens
Background
Beginning in 2006, David Dressler founded and scaled Tender Greens restaurants, a brand he and his team grew over ten years from inception to $100 million in revenue with 30 locations in three states and 1,200 team members. In 2017, he hired his replacement to run the company and, in the Spring of 2020, transitioned away from the day-to-day.
1. Why did you start a restaurant?
My partners and I came out of the white tablecloth world. We had 50 years of combined leadership experience in some of the best restaurants in North America.
We were tired of working in the stereotypical restaurant business – long exhausting days, working for peanuts and for tyrants while everybody else we knew was relaxing and enjoying life.
We also saw a hole in the market for a chance to democratize slow food. To make great food, real food, whole food available to more than just the wealthiest 1% of American diners. We used to joke that if Alice Waters made fast food, it would be our concept!
Our goal was to create the kind of company we’d want to work at, serving the kind of food that people would make at home if only they had the time to get to the farmers market, fire up the grill and get their friends to come over. We based the vibe on a Sunday at my house. Music playing, windows open, food on the table and a bottle of a great new world wine. We wanted to provide outstanding value and give people a great option between fancy one-off restaurants and vanilla chains.
2. Has it been what you thought it would be? How? How Not?
It was an amazing ride. We built a beautiful service culture for both our guests and our team members. At first, one of our unique selling propositions was that we were a great place for seasoned chefs to come and get as close to entrepreneurship as possible without a couple million bucks to spend on a restaurant. In addition to a core menu, we gave our chefs latitude to come up with their own daily specials at lunch and dinner. We leveraged our PR to tell stories about them, and we gave them the one thing that eludes many culinarians, business acumen. In exchange, they were living more balanced lives with way saner working hours and very competitive compensation. It was a win-win-win.
As time went on, to stay ahead of our staffing needs, we deepened our bench by training new and upcoming cooks. If they could meet us halfway through their reliability and initiative, we’d train them to become Tender Greens chefs. I think our greatest legacy is that we developed dozens and dozens of hugely capable professionals and provided so many opportunities for young people with a passion for food.
Like many restaurant companies, Tender Greens is a very different brand since the pandemic. We’ve had to streamline, leverage technology and make many hard choices to adapt to the public’s desire for delivery and those delivery services’ business tactics and fees. For many restaurant operators, whatever margins they were able to maintain prior to the rise of 3rd party delivery “partners” have been decimated by this financial burden. The rise in wages and ingredient costs and the scarcity of labor have made the restaurant business a massively challenging business. From that perspective, I’m saddened for the industry and brands like ours who have been badly hurt.
3. How does it serve you to be able to provide meals for others?”
It’s a whole thing. Whether it’s cooking in a restaurant, for friends or for my wife and kids, feeding people is a great feeling. Especially when the food connects them to joy, either because of how it tastes, feels in their bodies or what it makes them remember. When I make my mom’s red sauce and sit down to a bowl of spaghetti, I remember having my buddies over to my house for dinner as a kid. We’d absolutely pig out and then lie on the couch in the living room and groan! Making it for my kids, it feels like a tradition being passed on (minus the indigestion).
Over the years, we’ve had many guests thank us for inspiring them to learn to cook, for teaching their kids how to eat vegetables and for helping them with their health-related goals. Even this many years later and after so much change, I still get people thanking me for what we created.
4. What has been the favorite item requested by your customers?
I believe that the most popular item we have ever had on the menu is the Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Salad. It’s been there since the beginning.
5. A real thinker – what is your “philosophy of food?” or … what role does food have in other people’s lives?
Our food philosophy at Tender Greens is simple buy the best ingredients, use solid technique and do as little to it as possible. Cook like you would for people you love. At home, it’s pretty much the same!
David Dressler is a holistic executive coach and mentor helping leaders and their teams stay ahead (or get ahead) of the growing pains of people, strategy and culture. He also works with founders on meaningful and proactive succession plans for their companies and transition plans for themselves. He is the author of “Ten Year Plan: How the Founders of Tender Greens Scaled Their Heart-Centered Brand.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949642828
Some memorable team meetings have been held in Willies Cafe. They were different, fun and a place to learn. I still use a few tricks I learned from Kennard in my own kitchen. Teaching around food creates positive ripples in the pond of life.